Bloomsbury Summer School (text)

Bloomsbury Summer School

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Fascinated by ancient civilisations?

We offer anyone with any level of knowledge, inspiring short courses on ancient Egypt and other areas of the ancient world.

2025 Course timetable

Monday 14 July to Friday 18 July

EGYPT: LAND OF THE PHARAOHS -- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT (in person and online)

Course Director: Ms Lucia Gahlin (Independent)

To be held in person at UCL Institute of Archaeology (31 - 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY UK) and livestreamed online.

 

Monday 14 July

10:45* – 11:00
Participants gather in BSS Common Room on 6th floor / Students login to Zoom

11:00 – 11:30
BSS Director’s Welcome Address

11:30 – 13:00
1. An Overview of Ancient Egyptian History: Sites and pharaohs in this course

Welcome Lunch in BSS Common Room (14:00 Short optional tour of UCL with the Director)

14:30 – 15:45
2. Early Dynastic Period: The first pharaohs of Egypt

16:15 – 17:30
3. Early Old Kingdom: The first pyramid builder

17:30
Non-BSS event: Get together with fellow students for dinner at Poppadom Indian Kitchen in the Tavistock Hotel**

 

Tuesday 15 July

10:00 – 11:15
4. Mid – Late Old Kingdom: Egypt’s heyday of pyramid building

11:45 – 13:00
5. First Intermediate Period: Local rulers and civil war

14:15 – 15:30
6. Middle Kingdom: Egypt reunified

16:00 – 17:15
7. Second Intermediate Period: Foreign rulers in Egypt’s north

17:15 – 18:30

BSS Social on Common Room balcony**

 

Wednesday 16 July

10:00 – 11:15
8. Early New Kingdom: Warrior pharaohs and empire building

11:45 – 13:00
9. Early New Kingdom: Solar religion, kingship, and architecture

14:15 – 15:30
10. Guided Tour: Pharaohs in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology

16:00 – 17:15
11. Early New Kingdom: Egypt’s ‘heretic’ pharaoh

 

Thursday 17 July

10:00 – 11:15
12. Group A: Object Handling: Archaeological finds in the Petrie Museum Group B: Manuscript Handling: 19th Century facsimiles of the Book of the Dead

11:45 – 13:00
13. Group B: Object Handling: archaeological finds in the Petrie Museum Group A: Manuscript Handling: 19th Century facsimiles of the Book of the Dead

14:15 – 15:30
14. Early New Kingdom: ‘Wonderful Things’

16:00 – 17:15
15. Mid New Kingdom: ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings…’

 

Friday 18 July

10:00 – 11:15
16. Introduction to Reading Pharaohs’ Cartouches

11:45 – 13:00
17. Guided Tour: Pharaohs in the British Museum

14:15 – 15:30
18. Late New Kingdom: Combatting the chaos

16:00 – 17:15
19. Third Intermediate Period, Late Period, Ptolemaic Period: Pharaohs from afar

17:15 – 19:00
End-of-Course Drinks Party on BSS Common Room balcony (you are welcome to invite guests)**

 

*All times are London UK time; Google Meet waiting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start; **In-person participants only.

NB: Timetables, once published, are unlikely to change, but remain provisional until the first day of the course.